Worming questions

[jBabychickn]

I just bought some Valbazen and it arrived today. I had a couple of fecal floats ran a few days ago that showed positive for threadworms, a few roundworms, and possibly a few cecal worms.

My vet is not a chicken vet, she’s my feline vet that’s willing to run floats for me. She did mention that there weren’t many of the cecal and roundworm, just one or two, but there was definite threadworms. She also said that the floats she runs are usually with sick animals, so she’s used to seeing “wall to wall” eggs on them and that some of this could be normal worm load for chickens. — I’m going to treat anyway of course, and that was definitely her advice too… But, it got me wondering…

— Do chickens have worms all the time?

— Is it our goal as chicken-tenders to minimize them; to really keep that load down to tolerable levels or are we trying to eliminate them?

And..

— When do you normally go in and do your thorough coop/run clean out after worming? For example, right after the 2nd dose on the 10th day is given, or do you wait a week or so after that? Or do you need to do it earlier? Or even do it twice?

Finally…

— See the attached photo: Do you agree with this dosing? I was going to use it for my Salmon Faverolles, Jubilee Orpingtons, Silkies, and Silkie/Easter egger mixes (Standard & Bantam). — I don’t have access to a proper scale for them

THANKS

 

[dawg53]

How often you worm your birds depends on your soil conditions. Warm/wet soil will require frequent wormings. Cool/cold, sandy or rocky type soil will require less frequent wormings.

Our soil where we live is warm and wet most of the time and I worm birds monthly.
I use sand in the coops and pens and remove feces from the coops each morning. I scoop poop several times a day in the pens. Sand dries quickly and doesnt wash away like dirt and it deters parasites. It's also easier to scoop poop and dispose of it.
Chickens kept on the same ground are more susceptible for worm infestation.
When chickens free range, it's best to rotate areas where they forage.

I use Valbazen and dose each chicken orally 1/2ml. Heavy birds I dose 3/4ml. I have one very heavy Light Brahma (Tubby) that gets dosed 1ml.
I start worming birds at 5-6 weeks old, they get dosed 1/4ml. My lightest in weight birds are EE adults, they get 1/2ml.

Valbazen is a safe wormer, tough to overdose with it, just use common sense.

 

[jBabychickn]

How often you worm your birds depends on your soil conditions. Warm/wet soil will require frequent wormings. Cool/cold, sandy or rocky type soil will require less frequent wormings.

Our soil where we live is warm and wet most of the time and I worm birds monthly.
I use sand in the coops and pens and remove feces from the coops each morning. I scoop poop several times a day in the pens. Sand dries quickly and doesnt wash away like dirt and it deters parasites. It's also easier to scoop poop and dispose of it.
Chickens kept on the same ground are more susceptible for worm infestation.
When chickens free range, it's best to rotate areas where they forage.

I use Valbazen and dose each chicken orally 1/2ml. Heavy birds I dose 3/4ml. I have one very heavy Light Brahma (Tubby) that gets dosed 1ml.
I start worming birds at 5-6 weeks old, they get dosed 1/4ml. My lightest in weight birds are EE adults, they get 1/2ml.

Valbazen is a safe wormer, tough to overdose with it, just use common sense.

Oh! Perfect this puts my mind as ease…

We live in a semi-wet area, not in the summer months but it is pretty wet otherwise. We live in Western KY where three major rivers converge so we’re in a flood zone and our ground water table is very high; however in the summer we hit 100°F temps, so things dry out then.

I also use sand in the run, but shavings in the enclosed coop and scoop poop daily from the roost bars but not from the coop floor; I use deep litter method there for compost. The run where the sand is, I scoop every other day or third just when I see enough to gather really…

What about egg withdrawal in monthly wormings?

 

[dawg53]

Since we live with heat and high humidity most of the year, deep litter is a hotbed for worms, particularly capillary worms. I never have, nor never will do deep litter.

Valbazen and Safeguard are benzimidazoles. Benzimidazoles are mostly excreted, only a little is absorbed into the bloodstream.
However, there is still minute residue in the eggs. We eat the eggs after using either Valbazen or Safeguard. I'm still here typing.
That said, if you suspect that you or a family member might have a reaction to the residue in the eggs, by all means toss the eggs in the garbage for 2 weeks. Do not feed them back to the chickens nor sell nor give away eggs to be eaten.

I forgot to add that it's always best to worm birds in the dark before sunrise. Preload the liquid Valbazen using a syringe without a needle.

Snatch a bird off the roost and cradle her in your forearm. Use your free hand to grab the loaded syringe. With your thumb and fingers on the arm that you're cradling the hen, pull down on her wattles and her mouth will open. If she shakes her head, she'll tire out and then you can administer the liquid.

With your free hand, grab the loaded syringe and shoot the liquid in her mouth and IMMEDIATELY let go of the wattles so she can swallow the liquid. If you dont let go of the wattles right away, she can aspirate.
Only shoot 1/2ml into her mouth at a time to avoid aspiration especially if the hen is a heavy bird.

Once you've dosed the hen, release her. Reload your syringe and grab another bird until they are all wormed.
Consider having someone hold the bird for you while you dose them. Do a "dry run" and practice dosing until you get the hang of it if you wish.
Redose again in 10-14 days after the initial dosing.

The reason why you worm birds early in the morning before sunrise is that the birds havnt eaten yet and will have empty guts. Your chickens will be starving, so will the worms. The wormer will be more effective eliminating the worms.
Then wait 2 hours after worming before you feed your birds.
Feed them a little at a time, if you dont, they will gorge feed possible causing impacted crop or gizzard. Gradually increase feed during the day back to normal feeding routine.

 

[jBabychickn]

Since we live with heat and high humidity most of the year, deep litter is a hotbed for worms, particularly capillary worms. I never have, nor never will do deep litter.

Valbazen and Safeguard are benzimidazoles. Benzimidazoles are mostly excreted, only a little is absorbed into the bloodstream.
However, there is still minute residue in the eggs. We eat the eggs after using either Valbazen or Safeguard. I'm still here typing.
That said, if you suspect that you or a family member might have a reaction to the residue in the eggs, by all means toss the eggs in the garbage for 2 weeks. Do not feed them back to the chickens nor sell nor give away eggs to be eaten.

I forgot to add that it's always best to worm birds in the dark before sunrise. Preload the liquid Valbazen using a syringe without a needle.

Snatch a bird off the roost and cradle her in your forearm. Use your free hand to grab the loaded syringe. With your thumb and fingers on the arm that you're cradling the hen, pull down on her wattles and her mouth will open. If she shakes her head, she'll tire out and then you can administer the liquid.

With your free hand, grab the loaded syringe and shoot the liquid in her mouth and IMMEDIATELY let go of the wattles so she can swallow the liquid. If you dont let go of the wattles right away, she can aspirate.
Only shoot 1/2ml into her mouth at a time to avoid aspiration especially if the hen is a heavy bird.

Once you've dosed the hen, release her. Reload your syringe and grab another bird until they are all wormed.
Consider having someone hold the bird for you while you dose them. Do a "dry run" and practice dosing until you get the hang of it if you wish.
Redose again in 10-14 days after the initial dosing.

The reason why you worm birds early in the morning before sunrise is that the birds havnt eaten yet and will have empty guts. Your chickens will be starving, so will the worms. The wormer will be more effective eliminating the worms.
Then wait 2 hours after worming before you feed your birds.
Feed them a little at a time, if you dont, they will gorge feed possible causing impacted crop or gizzard. Gradually increase feed during the day back to normal feeding routine.

Just, wow! I’m in awe! — Thank you so much for this!!

 

[citychicks99]

@dawg53 how many days do you give them Valbazen?

 

[dawg53]

@dawg53 how many days do you give them Valbazen?

Two. The first dosing, then a second dosing 10 days later.

 

[Gypsi]

Thank you Dawg53! We have drought much of the time in North Texas, so my soil is very dry, but I needed the worming technique to get the Valbazen in the birds and you posted great info there. I also don't do deep bedding, seems like it would be asking for trouble here.

 

[FowlRancher]

I've only just started on my de-worming journey myself, my advice is to be extra vigilant in cleaning the coop for the entirety of the treatment. Scoop up all the individual poops and keep the coop clean!

Once treatment is done do a FULL coop clean, replace all bedding, etc.

The day after I started medicating my girls they were taking huge wormy poops everywhere and it's not something I wanted to linger around for the full 12 days of treatment.

 

[jBabychickn]

I've only just started on my de-worming journey myself, my advice is to be extra vigilant in cleaning the coop for the entirety of the treatment. Scoop up all the individual poops and keep the coop clean!

Once treatment is done do a FULL coop clean, replace all bedding, etc.

The day after I started medicating my girls they were taking huge wormy poops everywhere and it's not something I wanted to linger around for the full 12 days of treatment.

Completely agree! - This is exactly what I ended up doing as well…
It was a bit more work during those several days of treatment; however, definitely worth it…offered myself a good, solid “peace of mind”, just knowing I was doing everything I could to help the process